


you set my heart on fire

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Eren is Nervous, F/M, Kuchel was a professional figure skater, M/M, Meet the Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 16:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8899828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: “Your mother’s going to think I’m a fucking idiot,” Eren mutters. It’s soft, half muffled into the scarf Levi still has wrapped around his neck as Eren drops his head to rest there. The ghost of Eren’s breath against his skin sends a wave of goosebumps across his skin, even though the inside of the rink is blissfully warm compared to the drifting snow outside. Levi rolls his eyes and pushes back from the wall of the rink, wedging himself in between Eren and the ice so that when he leans up on tiptoe they’re almost nose to nose.“My mother’s not going to think you’re a fucking idiot just because can’t tell the difference between a toe loop and flip. She doesn’t have a goddamn quiz ready for you, okay? You could mix up ice dancing with pair skating and she wouldn’t give a fuck.”





	

“Okay,” Eren whispers quietly, bending his head over the plastic lid of his takeout coffee cup like the people on the far end of the rink can hear him. Levi feels a smile curl his lips, unbidden, and can barely keep it from blooming into a full force grin as Eren continues, despite the gravity of his lover’s voice. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Levi shifts against the barrier, arches an eyebrow and turns to face Eren like he hasn’t been watching him out of the corner of his eye for the last few minutes. “Of course,” he promises and his voice is too light with mirth, but Eren doesn’t seem to notice.

Eren slides him a look out of the corner of his eye, pink fighting for purchase in the apples of his cheeks. Levi gets distracted for a moment, lost in the gorgeous picture Eren makes, windblown from the winter weather outside and shifting nervously in the cutest way.

 “You’re not allowed to make fun of me or tell anyone,” Eren mutters, flushing even more so that it spreads up to his ears. “Okay?”

“ _Eren_ ,” Levi says, his voice coming out low and fond instead of exasperated and harsh. He sounds smitten, even to his own ears, and he knows that’s going to be embarrassing later, but he can’t help it. Just like he can’t help the sensation that curls in him is something he can’t help; warmth jolts like lightning through his limbs when he looks at Eren’s dead serious expression and something tickles and bubbles in his throat, like laughter yet to be born.

“I still can’t tell the difference between a toe loop and a flip.”

Levi takes a deep breath in through his nose and tries to strong arm himself under control, but he’s laughing before he can help it. It starts as a scoff and builds into a trembling huff, which billows into a laugh that shakes up and down his spine until he’s bent over the wall of the ice rink, face pressed against his forearm. Eren squawks a noise of complaint and digs his elbow into Levi’s shoulders, hissing in betrayal, but Levi can’t help himself, Eren’s seriousness in face of something so trivial to them utterly endearing.

“Sorry,” Levi breathes, straightening and pressing himself against Eren’s side. Eren lifts his arm on reflex and then huffs irritably, burying his face in Levi’s hair the second they’re pressed together, nose against the top of his scalp. A few of the others across the rink glance their way, something Levi can see out of the corner of his eyes, but he doesn’t care. “Sorry, babe, it’s just-“ Levi has to clear his throat and shake his head a little side to side before he swallows back as much of his laughter as he can and answer. “It’s the foot they take off of.”

Eren makes a face against Levi’s hair, one he can feel but can’t see, and yet it makes the laughter still lingering in his throat resurface all the same. “Is that _all_ ,” Eren asks. Levi shrugs back against him, shifting so that he can lift the arm that’s holding Eren’s coffee and duck to take a sip. Eren lets him, even though he’s been laughing at him, and warmth spreads through Levi’s limbs once more, one that has nothing to do with the coffee or the heated building they’re in and everything to do with _love_.

“Basically,” Levi answers with a little shrug. “It’s hard to understand if you haven’t been around this shit for years, so it’s no big deal that you don’t get it.”

There’s a noise in Eren’s throat, just behind Levi’s ear, that’s like a scoff and a groan all bundled up together. A heartbeat or two later, as Farlan and Isabel glide across the ice on separate ends, rushing back into one another’s arms for the end of their dramatic performance, Eren sighs.

“Your mother’s going to think I’m a fucking idiot,” Eren mutters. It’s soft, half muffled into the scarf Levi still has wrapped around his neck as Eren drops his head to rest there. The ghost of Eren’s breath against his skin sends a wave of goosebumps across his skin, even though the inside of the rink is blissfully warm compared to the drifting snow outside. Levi rolls his eyes and pushes back from the wall of the rink, wedging himself in between Eren and the ice so that when he leans up on tiptoe they’re almost nose to nose.

“My mother’s not going to think you’re a fucking idiot just because can’t tell the difference between a toe loop and flip. She doesn’t have a goddamn _quiz_ ready for you, okay? You could mix up ice dancing with pair skating and she wouldn’t give a fuck.”

Eren’s face softens, his features beautiful and striking in the bright lights so close to the ice. There’s a darkness to his hair, where snow has melted since they’ve come inside. His eyelashes kiss the crest of his cheeks when he blinks, shadows skittering against the warmth of his skin, and Levi has to fight back the urge to pull his head down and kiss him, to smother him in affection until he’s limp and grinning against Levi, the way he should be. Instead he just presses himself forward, feeling the way Eren’s already pressed so stiffly against him, and holds his breath as he waits for Eren to speak. The moment stretches, almost endless, Eren breathing in Levi’s words and letting them soothe him, and just as Levi’s about to crack and kiss him, Eren’s eyes pop wide.

“There’s a fucking _difference_ between _ice dancing_ and _pair skating_ ,” Eren hisses, his voice cracking toward the end as he strains his voice trying not to scream. He looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel and Levi’s self-control snaps, hands coming up to cradle Eren’s face and pull him down until their foreheads are pressed together, noses bumping.

“Hey,” Levi says lowly. He swallows and licks his lips, almost tasting Eren’s in the same motion. “Eren, look at me.”

“I am looking at you,” Eren says automatically, the sarcasm almost thick enough to cover the way his nerves make the words tremble. There’s a hitch in his breath and his forehead presses hard against Levi’s own, not uncomfortable yet, but close. Levi feels Eren’s free hand curl into the material of his jacket, the outline of his knuckles pressing through to Levi’s hip. “You’re all I can see, you’re like an inch from my nose.”

Levi snorts, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s deflection, a pale feeling like frustration rising and falling without sticking at all. His hands slide from Eren’s jaw to curl around his neck, his fingers pressing against the warm skin, sinking into the warmth since his hands are still so cold. He does it because he can’t help the way his hands wander, but then Eren shudders and snorts softly, the tension starting to wind out of his frame.

“Heat leech,” Eren mutters fondly. He closes his eyes and breathes in and Levi watches the way his jaw works, feels the wrinkles in his forehead form as he frowns.

“Eren,” Levi repeats, quiet and serious and undeniably, unbearably fond. “I swear to God; my mother is _not_ this scary.”

Eren doesn’t open his eyes though Levi can feel the way his eyelashes twitch against his own cheeks, only muttering, “your mother is an Olympic level athlete, as well as a World Champion figure skating. She can, like, bench press people, babe. I’ve seen videos.”

Levi draws back suddenly, feeling his face scrunch with bafflement while Eren sways forward, trying to chase the comfort of their earlier position. “My mother _cannot_ bench press anyone,” he blurts, the words trembling with an incredulous laugh. Eren opens his mouth to argue, peaking open one eye as he does so, but Levi interrupts. “Those videos are, like, _twenty years old_ , Eren. She’s _retired_. And anyway, you’ve got, like, seven inches on her; I think you can defend yourself from my tiny aging mother.”

Eren makes a face, clearly unconvinced, and Levi settles in against the barrier to the ice, heedless of how it digs into his back as he slides his fingers up Eren’s neck and around to cradle the back of his head. Eren turns his head, the pink in his already glowing cheeks becoming more vivid as he pressing an absent kiss to the heel of Levi’s palm before he uses the same motion to hide his grimace.

“Sorry,” Eren mutters, eyelashes hiding most of his gorgeous gem-like eyes from view. Most, but not all. “It’s stupid, I know, I’m just _nervous_ -“

Levi tugs Eren forward with the hand on the back of his head, coaxing him down until their noses to nose once more. It’s ridiculous, this casual display of affection; he’d always been a reserved, kind of hands-off kid, had grown into an even more hands-off adult who’d never really gotten along with people very well, but Eren makes it feel so _natural_.

Like a planet in orbit, like two skaters curling in for another combined spin; Eren pulls him in and keeps him anchored, and any sheepishness or self-consciousness vanishes the second Eren’s lips touch his. Levi presses forward, rising on his toes and using the wall behind him for leverage, and their kiss is slow and gentle, sweeter even than Eren’s coffee, though the taste of it lingers now on both their lips.

“I love you,” Levi mutters in the barest inch of space between them after they part. Eren breathes out a sigh, less of a deflation this time and more of resettlement inside his own bones, and then there’s a smile pulling his lips, one Levi feels as Eren ducks his head and kisses him again.

“I love _you_ ,” Eren mutters back. “Like- so fucking much.”

Levi feels heat crawl into his cheeks, emotion clawing up his throat and stealing anything he could say away from him. He’s left breathless, his heart hammering suddenly in his chest, so much so that it takes him a moment to realize the classical piece playing over the rink speakers has suddenly ended.

Eren stiffens against them, head pulling back from Levi so that he can cast a nervous glance over the top of Levi’s head, and Levi heaves a sigh and lets him go. Isabel and Farlan have finished running through their free skate performance for the upcoming competition, but Levi knows practice isn’t over quite yet.

Practice with his mother, as he remembers it, never ends without a lecture.

He twists around to watch, a small bubble of nostalgia building in his chest as Isabel and Farlan slide up to the barrier where his mother waits, Isabel beaming excitedly and Farlan flushed visibly from exertion even from this distance. Eren shifts as if to go over there, squaring his shoulders like he’s about to march to his death, but Levi slides his hand in Eren’s and tugs him to a halt, reaching up to tug him back down into one last kiss before they go. Eren flushes all the way to his ears when Levi kisses him, once gently and then a second time with purpose, fingers curling in his thick gorgeous hair, parting only for Eren to bend down and press a grinning kiss to the tip of Levi’s nose.

Someone – Isabel, Levi would bet money on it being her – makes a soft cooing noise from the other side of the rink, one that skitters across the ice and chases Levi’s heels as he turns to lead Eren around to the other end. Eren clutches Levi’s hand like a lifeline, his coffee held up to his chest like a shield, and Levi swallows back a laugh and shakes his head.

“ _Le-vi_ ,” Isabel shouts. Her voice echoes across the rink, rising into the rafters and getting stuck there the same way Levi remembers the voices of the cheering crowds doing when he was a kid. “ _Hurry up and bring your boyfriend over here! We want to meet him, come_ on _, Levi!”_

“That’s our cue,” Levi mutters. Eren mimes a motion, like he’s praying into the lid of his coffee cup as he raises it to his lips even though Levi _knows_ it’s empty, and Levi finds himself laughing, his voice arching up to mingle with the lingering sounds of Isablel’s shouts.

“We’re _coming_ , Jesus Christ,” Levi calls back. The rink is large, but Eren’s naturally large strides and Levi’s quick pace make quick work of it, quicker work than Levi thinks Eren wanted it to be. They’re only a few yards from the skaters and their coach within a few seconds, Isabel already kicking off her skates in a rush so that she’s sliding around in her battered, bare feet. Kuchel’s watching them approach, an expression of barely contained excitement glimmering in her eyes, but Levi watches his mother’s face tighten when she glances down at Isabel, an emotion he knows well dancing across her face before she pushes it back out of the way.

“Don’t tell me you let them off easy today because we’re here,” Levi laughs, squeezing Eren’s hand once more before they stop before the trio. Isabel looks seconds away from throwing herself at Levi like an over excited teenager again, but Farlan forestalls such a thing by looping his arm casually around her waist and hauling her back along the bench until he can tuck his chin over her shoulder. Levi feels his lips twitch and he ducks his head in acknowledgement for the help, feeling a rush of fondness for the sandy haired skater as he grins back.

“Oh, I didn’t go easy on them at _all_ ,” his mother laughs back. She flashes him a grin, more like a baring of teeth in a challenge than a smile, and Levi recognizes it from old scratchy videos on YouTube and the photographs he’d dug up as a teenager that her old coach used to take. “I chewed them out like crazy when they got off the ice, just like- what did you used to call it? A ‘rabid fucking bear tearing into a couple of baby deer’?”

Eren makes a small noise in the back of his throat, so low Levi’s the only one who’s probably able to hear it. It’s the sound of hysterical laughter being crushed before it can be heard and that makes him laugh, just as much as his mother does.

“You must be getting quieter in your old age, Mama,” Levi teases. He should really go hug her, but Eren still has his hand in a vice grip and Levi’s not ready to let him go yet. “I didn’t hear a thing across the rink.”

Kuchel’s razor champion smile melts, turns soft and sweet around the edges for a moment, and Levi’s heart kicks in his chest as her eyes slide up and fix on Eren. “Well, darling,” she says, tone all honey and warm with mirth, “that might be because you were a little busy over there. You know, with your hands full and your back turned and all that.”

Levi flushes all the way across his cheeks and down his throat, more like a teenager caught on the front porch on a first date than a grown man bringing his longtime boyfriend to meet his mother. He rolls his eyes, but his chest still feels tight at the easy affectionate way his mother talks.

“Did you even watch us at _all_ ,” Isabel huffs. Her expression twists in on itself, like she’s trying to be cross with him but her grin is too wide and infectious and a moment later she wiggles her fingers in a wave at Eren over Levi’s shoulder, dropping the act of scorned and angry with a flash of her teeth. Levi rolls his eyes fondly at her.

“I watched enough to know you’ll win gold this week,” he promises. Isabel’s face lights up, pride turning her cheeks the very same kind of pink that her outfit for tomorrow will be, if the pictures Levi’s been seeing on Instagram are to be believed, and next to her Farlan turns his face against her hair and smiles, looking thoroughly exhausted but pleased.

“Enough about ice skating,” Levi’s mother says suddenly, waving her hands around. Isabel and Farlan pretend to draw back in shock at their coach’s sudden burst, Levi a second too late on the uptake to do much more than snort. His mother’s eyes crinkle at the corner with crow’s feet Levi doesn’t remember her having when he left home, her cheeks going rosy as she huffs at their dramatics. “Yes, I _know_ ; Kuchel Ackerman doesn’t want to talk about ice skating, call the fucking _press_ , but there are _more important matters at hand_ , okay.”

Isabel opens her mouth, probably to tease her coach mercilessly, but Levi steps forward, saving his old friend from what will probably be a grueling set of warm-ups come morning as punishment for her sass. “ _Mom_ ,” he says, trying not to laugh as he tries to tug Eren forward. Eren, like a sudden statue, almost doesn’t budge. Meanwhile his mother snaps her head over to meet him, her eyes lighting up as Eren shuffles forward to stand at his side. “Mom, this is Eren Jaeger, my boyfriend. Eren, this is my mom.”

“Um,” Eren says at his side. He lifts the hand clutching the empty cardboard coffee cup like a lifeline, waving it awkwardly in the air in a stiff little hello. “Hi?”

Levi’s mother twitches across from them, a tremor going down her arms like she’s dying to lurch forward and do something terribly embarrassing, like squish Eren’s cheeks with the flats of her palms or wrap him in a hug. He knows his mother has been _dying_ to meet Eren since the first time Levi mentioned him, nearly a year and a half ago, and he worries for a second that any kind of self-control or sense has left her head entirely. But she stays still, her face splitting in the biggest smile Levi’s ever seen on her face as she lifts her hand and waves back.

“Hi,” she says, stepping forward as Farlan covers Isabel’s mouth to keep her from interrupting. His mother extends a hand toward Eren, who tightens his grip on Levi’s hand at her advance. “It’s nice to meet you, Eren! I’ve heard so much about you, I can’t _believe_ it’s taken Levi so long to introduce us! Oh, you can call me Kuchel if you want, I don’t mind.”

There’s a long moment, one Levi feels coiling like a vice around his heart, where Levi thinks Eren isn’t going to let go of his hand. He shifts, ready to reach across him and take the coffee cup out of his other hand, no matter how awkward that will seem, but Eren releases the death grip he’s been squeezing into Levi’s fingers and lets Levi’s mother capture his hand between two of hers with a grace that neatly hides his earlier nerves.

“I’ve heard a lot about you as well, ma’am,” Eren says and when he smiles, dimples appear in the apples of his cheeks. He ducks his head down to Levi’s mother’s height and for a minute Levi can’t tell if Eren’s purposefully turning up the charm in his _aw shucks_ expression or not. Levi thinks it’s just _Eren_ and his natural state of _incredibly unbelievably endearing_ and can’t breathe for a moment for how much he loves him. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Levi was actually showing me videos of some of your old routines last night while we ate.”

“ _Levi_ ,” his mother gasps. She turns to him, half scolding and half laughing, releasing Eren’s hand to swat at Levi’s shoulder gently. He could dodge the swipe, but instead he steps into it, pressing his shoulder against Eren’s and bearing the flick of her nails against his jacket with grace. “I thought those old videos were back at the house; how’d you get a hold of them?”

“Not your copies,” Levi corrects, shaking his head. “I looked a few up on YouTube. They were grainy as shit, but Eren wanted to be prepared in case you tried to spring a pop quiz on him.”

Next to him Eren stiffens, betrayal evident in the way Levi can see his mouth part just the barest bit, beautiful green eyes cutting sideways to pin Levi in place, but before Eren can defend himself Levi’s mother is waving her hand, laughing and reaching up to pat Eren’s shoulder with an easy, rolling little shrug.

“The day I try to quiz you on ice skating is the day you get to sit me down and quiz me on astrophysics,” she promises Eren cheerfully. Some of the tension bleeds out of Eren’s shoulders at the mention of his chosen academic field and he laughs, soft and sheepish, reaching up to run a hand through his hair as he nods. “Now, let me introduce my skaters, before Isabel bites through her boyfriend’s poor hand, and then you both can take me sightseeing around town or to lunch or whatever you two have planned for the day. Sound good to you?”

“Sounds good to me, ma’am,” Eren agrees. He pauses then, peaking at Levi from the corner of his eye, and then he grins, the sight of which is bright and predatory, sending a shiver down Levi’s spine. “You wouldn’t happen to have brought any old photos with you, would you have? Like some of Levi during your performances when he was small, or, like, during that very small time where he was doing his _own_ performances…?”

Levi stiffens, the flush of warm emotion that tingles down to his fingertips which Levi knows is _Love_ warring with the urge to whip around and _gape_ at his boyfriend. “What the _fuck_ -“ he hisses, but Eren cuts him off, ducking to kiss the top of his head in breath-taking moment like they’re all on their own across the rink again, his eyes twinkling.

“ _Payback,_ babe,” Eren whispers and Levi’s breath catches, his chest constricting around his heart, because Eren’s eyes are glittering and his cheekbones look like they’ve been lovingly crafted by some kind of _god_ , the broad length of his shoulders framed by the seemingly endless rows of metal stands Levi spent most of his childhood running up and down like they were his own personal playground. Eren’s stunning, Eren’s _always_ stunning, but there’s something about the moment that steals Levi’s breath and shakes his him to his bones.

“I love you,” Levi tells him, heedless of his mother nearby, forgetting for a moment that they’ve got an audience or a schedule or _anything but Eren_.

Eren’s expressions chase each other across his face, so open and expressive, so much more graceful and beautiful than any skater Levi watched growing up, before they settle into the haze of red in the apples of his cheeks, adoration and happiness glittering in his eyes. “I, uh, love you too,” Eren whispers, ducking his head to lean against Levi. His lips tug into a helpless smile, like he’s not sure what’s brought about Levi’s sudden declaration.

Levi opens his mouth to explain, but in that moment Isabel’s patience – and Farlan’s grip – finally falters.

“They’re _so cute,_ oh my _god_ ,” Isabel hisses. There’s the sound of her hand smacking into Farlan’s arm, which echoes in a dull, flat kind of way through the otherwise silent rink. “Far _, Far!_ They’re _so fucking cute_ , look at them! _”_

Farlan sighs, a gusty noise that almost covers the sound of Eren squeaking in the back of his throat as he drops his flaming face down against Levi’s shoulder. “I can see, Izzy,” Farlan mutters. Levi twists to curl his arm around Eren’s waist, trying to ignore the way his mother is staring at them both like she’s already trying to rearrange her schedule to make room for something ridiculous, like a _wedding_ or something. Out of the corner of his eyes Levi can see the apologetic look Farlan shoots him, the one that says _you know how Isabel is_ , but he can only sigh and roll his eyes at, because he does.

“O-kay,” Levi says loudly, dragging the word out to cover his embarrassment. “Let’s go get lunch or some shit, yeah? Mom, stop fucking grinning at me and either whip your skaters into shape so that we can go or-“

Isabel lunges up, bowling past Levi and knocking him further into Eren’s chest as she barrels toward the locker rooms behind them. “ _You’re not leaving without me_ ,” she shrieks and Farlan puts his head in his hands and laughs, while Levi’s mother has the sense to flush in embarrassment.

“Sorry about her, Eren,” Levi’s mother says. She mutters something under her breath, a tumbling string of French syllables Levi can’t understand for the life of him but _knows_ are fowl words, before gesturing for Farlan to hurry up and follow Isabel’s lead. “She’s- Well, I’d _like_ to say she isn’t always like this, but she is.”

“She really is,” Farlan adds, straightening like an old man and slouching after his girlfriend and skating partner. Kuchel smacks his lower back as he passes her by and he straightens into perfect posture with a grimace. “You get used to it, eventually. Sorta.”

“It’s, uh, okay,” Eren says, picking up his head and shaking his bangs out of his eyes. Levi leans back against him for a moment, feeling Eren duck down to rest his chin on the top of Levi’s head. “I don’t mind, she’s- lively.”

Kuchel sighs, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “That’s one way of putting it,” she mutters, soft and fond for her student. She turns after a moment, facing Eren again, and this time when she smiles it’s got an echo of her old challenging edge, one that adds a mark of mischief to her manner.

“Ma _ma_ ,” Levi warns quietly, using the old childhood name for his mother. She bats her eyes at him and reaches in her back pocket, pulling out her phone.

“So, Eren,” she says, sliding up to his side. Eren doesn’t stiffen behind him, which Levi takes a progress in leaps and bounds. Levi feels a smile curl his lips and doesn’t bother trying to stop it.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I have a whole folder of old photos on my phone, if you want to see them while we wait for Izzy and Farlan to come back.”

Levi groans while Eren makes an ecstatic sound in the back of his throat, leaning down to Kuchel’s level and taking Levi in with him. “Holy shit, _show me_ ,” Eren breathes excitedly and Levi can only blow a breath out from between trembling lips, torn between laughing and sighing while his chest constricts so much he can barely breathe.

“Traitors,” Levi manages to mutter quietly, but there’s no heat to his words and he settles in to watch his mother and boyfriend get along like a house on fire with a content feeling more buoyant and heady than any trophy or medal could have ever brought him.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been trying to post this for like an hour plsssssss
> 
> anyway I had the image of Kuchel at like 22, lil infant Levi on her hip at the podium with her gold medal and then Eren like 20 years later being like "YOUR MOTHER SCARES ME" and Levi's like "SHE'S RETIRED???" and so. this happened.
> 
> I hope y'all liked!


End file.
